Actually, I think automated cars would solve some traffic issues. Around here, most freeway jams are caused by people not knowing how to merge and fucking the whole freeway over when they try to enter at 35 mph. Automated cars would be much better at merging.

They would also take interchange ramps at speed instead of slowing down too, which is the primary cause of fucking up a particular five mile stretch of freeway around here. So yes, traffic would get better with automated cars.

Amazing, I didn't know until you expressed the actual problem. Fucking. The whole problem is caused by too much fucking. Less fucking, fewer people, things get better.

Good point, and indeed, carpooling is encouraged in Paris on smog days: although they ban half of the cars (those with odd-numbered license plates one day, even-numbered the next), cars that transport 3 people or more are exempt from the ban.

Many people drive a car in order not to use public transportation... And people having a car don't really care about saving a couple of euros to travel within Paris/suburbs.

Here's the thing. Reducing fares for transit in general everywhere would encourage usage and point out the need for more buses. An anonymous tracking app or transponder can be designed so that people can each have one, thereby illuminating where they like to go - the transit system can optimize routes to make the experience better (minimizing the pain). Overall, with more people in the buses, the roads become less congested and work better for people who have suboptimal trips. Using transit a lot does save people money, so they can afford better cars, perhaps hybrids and electric. Taking all measures to maximize transit usage worldwide would make a big difference in pollution.

The big question is how to pay for it. It's a bit of a catch 22. If people want to use transit more tax revenue could drop as people spend less on cars and carry less stuff out of the stores (how much can you carry from the bus stop?). However, smart retailers might hire strong teenagers or perhaps people who need exercise to be mules.

Retailers and road planners have made it easy for many car users to get from A to B in a fraction of an hour. Almost paradoxically the problem is being exacerbated by many people choosing to live in suburbs because of the great convenience of transportation. What could entice and accommodate people to live closer to work? The suburbs offer larger and more affordable homes, for one thing. I suggest that family-friendly neighborhoods with large multistory residential be built near the places where vast numbers of people work because that is the source of traffic. Land costs an arm and a leg in these places so the buildings have to be tall - not like Paris, more like Dubai. However, there has to be enough supply to make the homes affordable - not like Dubai.

Another thing is that the industry and hence the populace has to be diverse and flexible. Numerous, multistory but affordable residential neighborhoods require big money to kickstart. Many large cities have little houses relatively close to the city centre full of people believing one day they can sell their little gold mines yet they are still living there because developers are not into losing money. There needs to be foresight to rebuild the residential and move people closer to work.

In my city I see this happening here and there because the economy was strong at the time of the rebuild. Indeed, many rebuilds across the world can kill a couple of birds with one rock, paper, or scissors. The economy would be stimulated while pollution will be reduced. More people even save time on their commutes. A no-outsourcing job creation idea, Mr. Trump or Mr. Obama. How nice is that?

Anyone who defends this convenience-over-privacy should download and print Jihadi-type information, nuke plans, bio-weapons info, etc. through this service and see how long it is before there is a knock on their door.

Who on their right mind is going to spend hundreds of dollars for some minor functionality?

Back in the 1980s, I remember thinking "If only there was a way to have my girlfriend (at the time) send me her pulse so I could feel her love on my own wrist in real-time. Of course the technology wasn't there, and wouldn't be for some time, so I had to settle for her bloody heart in a jar and 25 years in a psychiatric hospital.

Yep. I have a friend who worked for a now-defunct ad placement firm. They hired people specifically for the purpose of figuring out ways around ad blockers. Of course that was dumb, because for people who are determined not to be tracked and force-fed ads, that simply makes them more determined to find ways to block things.

I recently went to renew my/. subscription because it has been some time since I last had. They are no longer offering subscriptions, not sure if it's temporary or not. One of the nice things with it was the option to turn off ads. I still run uMatrix and uBlock Origin on the site but still wanted to support them.

So it seems like they may be going straight for an ad & tracker supported model.

Yep. Pretty much everyone is. It's like the Cons haven't figured out that their chicken-little politics isn't working anymore. Keep it cooky cons, and get comfy in opposition.:)

Liberals hold on to honeymoon gains in national polls
Justin Trudeau's Liberals continue to enjoy more support today than they did in the 2015 federal election and have yet to see their poll numbers take a negative turn....
The Conservatives are down almost uniformly in most parts of Canada since the election. They have slipped 3.1 points in Alberta, 3.5 points in both Ontario and Quebec, 3.6 points in B.C. and 4.4 points in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Word of warning to non-Canadians who don't recognise the hyperbole: Alberta is a strange land that desperately wants to be Texas. Its politics produce strange ideas like this. It's clearly something in the water that does this, you see people move there from elsewhere in Canada, and it takes them months sometimes years to become normal again when they come back home. What your experiencing here is someone who has been brainwashed and is suffering a level of butthurt as a result of having a Liberal mayor in Calgary, Socialist government at the provincial level, and a Liberal federal government. Its spectacular to watch.

Carry on Mashiki. Tell us more about how the last decade of Conservative incompetence didn't create this housing bubble and the current economic instability.

Yes please. Double removable battery on mine too. External charger and a spare battery means never worrying about charge time, AND it becomes a solution when the charging port gets mucked up.
I'm sure the latter is why they stopped doing this.